African traditional religion is at last being recognized by Western
scholars and theologians as central to authentic black African cultures.
Once relegated to the realm of "primitive" and stigmatized as "pagan,"
today there is a new acknowledgment of its importance, especially in its
stress on folk practices, communal values, and personal relationships.

This volume of fourteen chapters examines the nature, structure,
and significance of African traditional religion(s) as dynamic, changing
tradition(s). It analyzes and interprets several significant aspects of
African religions and explores their possible contributions to national
development and the modernization process. It also discusses the impact
of social change on African religion today. The contributors are scholars
from several disciplines (anthropology, sociology, history of religions,
theology, literature and the arts); yet, in analysis and interpretation
of their data, they all take transcendence and the sacred in African thought
very seriously. The newness of this approach is in treating African traditional
religion not as a fossil but rather as one of the most important building
blocks of modern African life.

Table of Contents

Introduction
Jacob K. Olupona
1. “Insiders” and “Outsiders” in the Study of African Religions:
Notes on Some Problems of Theory and Method
David Westerlund
2. Major Issues in the Study of African Traditional Religion
Jacob K. Olupona
3. The Place of Traditional Religion in Contemporary South
Africa
Gerhardus Cornelis Oosthuizen
4. The Place of African Traditional Religion in Contemporary
Africa: The Yoruba Example
Wande Abimbola
5. Flowers in the Garden: The Role of Women in African
Religion
John S. Mbiti
6. The Role of Women in African Traditional Religion and
Among the Yoruba
Joseph Akinyele Omoyajowo
7. The Talking Drum: A Traditional Instrument of Liturgy
and of Mediation with the Sacred
Georges Niangoran-Bouah
8. Religious Politics and the Myth of Sango
Akinwumi Isola
9. African Traditional Socio-Religious Ethics and National
Development: The Nigerian Case
Friday M. Mbon
10. The Encounter Between African Traditional Religion and Other Religions
in Nigeria
Joseph Omosade Awolalu
11. Traditional African Religion and Christianity
Vincent Mulago
12. Revitalization in African Traditional Religion
Rosalind I. J. Hackett
13. Tradition and Continuity in African Religions: The Case of New
Religious Movements
Bennetta W. Jules-Rosette
14. Perseverance and Transmutation in African Traditional Religions
Evan M. Zuesse
Contributors
Index

JACOB K. OLUPONA is a professor of African and African-American
Studies at the University of California at Davis and currently holds a
John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship. He was a Commonwealth Universities Academic
Fellow, U.K. and Senior Fulbright Fellow, U.S.A. He is the author of Religion
and Kingship in a Nigerian Community: A Phenomenological Analysis of Ondo
Yuruba Festivals.